Anyone who knows me, knows: I can kill any plant. Any fish too, really, but this isn't a post about sushi. Never thought I'd be able to say this one sentence... "I had so much basil and oregano growing this summer, I didn't know what to do with it." BUT I CAN, I AM, AND HERE WE ARE!

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT, HERBIVORES

The bad news? There's no real great way to extend the shelf life of fresh herbs beyond a couple of days once you've picked or snipped them.

The worse news: You have to cut plants back or they'll spiral into the black hole of not-growing-anymore-dom.

GOOD NEWS: You can save your precious homegrown (or store-bought fresh) herbs almost indefinitely with just a few minutes on a slow afternoon. All you need is the herbs of your choice and the freezing medium of your choice. My medium for herbs is EVOO. I love EVOO. I swear, I'd drink it. It's perfect for this application because I can pop a couple of these little rock stars into a pot or a pan and start my recipe with exactly what I need (oil + herbs)!

WHAT YOU NEED

Herb(s) of choice (I used oregano)

Freezing medium of choice (Extra Virgin Olive Oil for me!)

Ice cube tray

It's really as easy as it sounds! Here's what you do: Chop up your herbs. Put them in your ice cube tray. Cover with freezing medium of choice. Put in freezer to freeze. You're done!

You don't HAVE to use these in hot applications, either. We all start a great homemade Italian Marinara Sauce recipe with olive oil and oregano (among other things), right? But what if you preserved your fresh cilantro this way? Pop a couple out of the freezer as you're prepping your guacamole & you're good to go!

Note: This isn't rocket science (thankfully). You can chop and freeze all willy-nilly and I won't be judging you. For me, though? For these? I did measure. 1tsp of oregano per cube, that way I know how much I'm using in a recipe down the road. But go on, you do you.

I don't like cats. I've never liked cats. I'd never liken myself to a cat. Except, I'm about to. I LOVE BRIGHT, SHINY OBJECTS! Enter: Mirror Cakes. Me-ow! Remember the first time you saw a mirror cake? I do. I raced to the Google machine IMMEDIATELY, intent on replicating this cakey sorcery. I couldn't find a recipe ANYWHERE! This thing was completely.locked.down. After a hefty amount of searching, I got frustrated and threw in the towel. Sorry, mirror cake. You just aren't for me.

Fast forward to this past week. Here I am, watching YouTube videos about royal icing, cookie decorating, and marshmallow fondant (JUST SHOW ME ALL OF THE THINGS!). The video I was on ended and the next auto-played. Lo and behold, the next vid just so happened to be about MIRROR CAKES! Not only about them, but about how easy they are to make! At home! By yourself! AAHHHHHHH. Thank you, Elise. Thank. You. ?

Full disclosure: This post isn't a complete step-by-step tutorial with an included recipe. If you want the live action video of all that, please click on the video by Elise linked above. Here, you'll find the basics, some observations, and my first attempt at mirror glaze cakery. Let's do it!

First thing's first - You cook the glaze. It's not pretty or exciting, so no pics of that. After you cook it, you have to let it come down to the correct temp before applying it to the cake. Mirror cake will not be mirror cake if the mirror runs completely off when applied -that's what happens if you don't let it come to temperature.

While I waited, I walked the dogs. I called a friend. I did the dishes. I ran errands. I cut up an apple. I watched other videos. I looked up recipes. I folded laundry.

Letting the mirror glaze cool down took approximately FOREVER. And by that I mean, it took a couple of hours. It probably didn't help that the bowl was covered with plastic wrap, thereby holding the heat in, but I didn't want the glaze to form a skin if left uncovered.

Mirror glaze, mirror glaze, on the counter, who's the ... wait, what rhymes with counter?!

Another good thing to do while you wait is to level your cake. You'll put the cut side down so the baked (smoother) side gets the glaze on it, but this will ensure you have a level cake.

You could eat the part you cut off. And really, who wouldn't? I'm the weirdo who doesn't like red velvet cake (don't hate me), so I saved it for additional glazing practice.

Note: Something as thin as the top layer will not hold up well to the glaze. I suggest you don't glaze anything of size that is so thin, or you're going to be very disappointed when you try to move it.

Holiday (hol·i·day): A day or season during which one must bake.

Happy Halloween!

What? No one accused me of being a Merriam or a Webster. I have been accused of spending way too much time in the kitchen, though. Usually around holidays. Easter and Christmas are the givens, at least on this blog, but I LOVE having some Halloween fun too. A little goblin birdie told me it would be fun to play with royal icing for cookies, so I thought I'd give it a go. Be gentle, I'm not a pro!

I ventured out into the intarwebz to find a royal icing recipe to whip up at home. Annie's Eats is where I landed. Before I dashed out for powdered sugar, I may or may not have spent a solid 30 minutes browsing the site. Annie, I'd eat everything (EVERYTHING) on there. You can view Annie's royal icing recipe here.

Side note: venturing out into the intarwebz caused me to venture out to my local Publix three times in one day - two times more than normal in a given day. They don't think I'm weird at all​.

Royal icing, thin consistency.

As you can see, I didn't nail the consistency right away. It should be much thicker, matte, and not so drippy. Perfect icing never happens on the first try, that's what I say. Thankfully, it was still thick enough to pipe outlines with, so I forged on.

​First, I piped outlines on the cookies. Why I didn't take more pictures of that part, I don't know. These photos are from the white "bloody" cookies, so the icing is white - but if you're using color, be sure to add it before putting the icing in a piping bag. If you want to see more of the outlining process, check out Annie's awesome autumn cookies. In any case, you do this for two reasons: One, to give yourself a predetermined area to work within and, two, so the filler icing ("flooding," but we'll get to that in a moment) doesn't leak off the sides of the cookie.

Royal icing borders piped on cookies.

Next up, you need to flood the area of your cookies inside the border. To be on the safe side, I let my borders dry for up to an hour before I mess around with flooding. Royal icing is pretty thick, so you'll need to thin it out a bit before attempting this step. Add in just a teeny bit of water (less than a teaspoon at a time) and mix in thoroughly. If you're adding color (liquid or gel), be sure to get that in there so it doesn't screw up the consistency you're going for. You want it to run off the back of a spoon with ease. Once you've got that down, pour your royal icing into a squeeze bottle. You could also use a plastic zip top bag with the corner snipped off if you're feeling brave. I wasn't in the mood to wear my icing.